i will go to my grave defending joker mass effect's decision to not abandon the cockpit of the sr-1
he's fucking disabled and has trouble walking when the normandy isn't taking heavy fire, he needed assistance to get to an escape pod because he is disabled and the rest of the cockpit crew are dead. he could have very well just stumbled bad during another attack, break his leg, and float off into the abyss of space
the escape pods still need to safely eject from the ship, and lore makes it clear the ship piloting vi isn't complex enough to handle mid-combat piloting. by remaining in the cockpit and keeping the ship out of fire, joker allows more escape pods to eject safely
too many people (redditors, mostly) look at joker's decision to stay at the helm as a betrayal, and genuinely blame him for shepard's death which is insane. he didn't make the decision to remain at the helm because he wanted shepard to die lmfao he does it because he knows, as a disabled man who forgoes mobility aids, that he has 0 chance of getting to an escape pod by himself and his best choice is to stay and try to keep the ship steady and relatively intact
